The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1887-04-29

Herald of the North.-C. Corrcll.
Herald of the South.-J. q. Fowler.
Herald of the East.-r. J. Sherk.
Herald of the West Al. Wheeler.
Mr.. J. W. Fowler, of the Building
Committee, in Il few appropriate re-
marks turned the building over, in Il
formal manner, Ia the order.
The Odd Fellows building is credit
To the city and reflects honor upon the
organization. The size ofthc structure is
HING feet, three stories high. The Lodge
room proper is 3GN42 with an ante-ro"m,
reception room, banquet hall and kitch-
en-. The order purchased the lot over two
years ago and paid for it. The mem
bers took stock in the binding to the
amount of upwards of 5000 and Dor
rowed money 10 the amount of 5000
with which Ia complete il. Ii was hop
ed that the entertainment would net
enough Ia pay for carpets, &c., which
cost i'm the ncighhorh"ud of 500, but
we are glad la say the net receipts will
overrun 500. Fully three hundred
people were hanquctcd, and the ball
which followed WAS participated i'll by II
large number of our best people. The
company as a whole was one of the
most brilliant that ever assembled in
the city.
The banquet which followed the dcdi-
cation was one of the most elaborate
spreads ever attempted i'll the city, and
the ladies are entitled TO great credit for
the success of this feature of the enter
tainment.
Following We give Hon. NJ. ID. l.. Col
testers speech in full, and ask for it the
careful perusal of every reader:
The most clearly defined difference he
tween the ancient heather civilization ahd
the Chri stian consists in certain element of
charity which enters into the latter, and ui
which we find few traces IN the former. As
the world grows older the great life lessons of
history grow more solemn and impressive
The steady march of millions to the grave,
the disappointment, anguish and strife that
sion: the bleeding feet. broken hearts, AM
fearful eyes, all in one vast picture, tell at 1
glance the true story of human life-alway'
sad, and containing so much of the painful
and mysterious that we naturally love ant
pity each other ut times and in ways that We
dare not confess. The tender relationships o
family and home, the sympathy we feel fol
the unfortunate and wrctched, the advcrsitic
and affections common to all-thc conscious
| ness that at best we are all but poor stumbler
upon the storm coast of woe-proVe that each
| heart Is but part Of Every other, and all arr
one.
The love of peace, the disposition Ia forgive
and the art of fOrgiving well, are products o
modern civilization, and whether due To Chris
| tianty or better common sense is not fol
me To say. The ancient brotherhood was tina
| of the state, the rocky and rugged friendship
which was based upon personal honor; thu
ancient philosophy, too, was full of sublime
| thought, but il was cold intellectual an,
without heart, magnificent beyond any pro
duct of modern Thought, through the mist
| of ages we can see il still standing i'm cold AN
polished splendOr, like marble temple reach
ing the stars.
| 70 pity, forgive and lOvc.-these are tn
| golden links of the new philosophy, and q
| that prophetic faith i'm human nature wheel
| tends To make life sweet and desirable, an
which rings like silver bells to-day on lamG
| and sea.
The great nations of antiquity are markc
| with more or less of the heroic in character.
To be brave was to be great-a coward wa
deserving of death. Men protected them
| vii
strong right arm was relied upon more tina
the code. An outrage could he forgiven, bI
not till the dagger had prepared the way. Tn
rule was, death first and charity afterwards
There was no ground work Of moral obligs
ton. The gods themselves loved riot, but M
Injustice Each man was independent an
fearless. No doubt such training as this d
veIops every nerve and fibre of noble man
hood. Everybody admires IA brave man VIII
is not a brute. A man like Caesar, who wa
sometimes generous and loving, but deiiaI
and OF irresistible power But bravery with
out restraint becomes rashness indeed. Cha
ity must take the place of the sword. TIL
old chivalry must give way to the new law {
forgiveness and men must love instead {
hate each other.
The world is full Of imaginary evil. Huma
nature, as we read of il in the papers and book
or as ID is told Ia us IN the gossip Of the day.
| "A filthy mass Of wantOnncss and lies. Me
and women, by looking at each other ut grea
distances apart, become shocked with thci
mutual hidcousncss, grow bitter and distrust
| full and often fall To tearing each other ii
pieces like wolves. The fact is, the world
not half SD bad as many think IL is. Out G
everybody's eyes look some good angels an
some bad ones. God never made a huma
soul, that he did not hang upon its walls som
immortal pictures of himself That marvel
GUS combination of scnsibiity, passion an
| reason, which is n part Of every man and wO
man was not made for hermitage and solitude
| IL has in il, even when degenerate and III
/ sanctified, so much of the gOd-like that IL ma
| well be an object of perpetual wonder. Tha
| ceaseless activity of thought, that quick per
| ception of right and wrong, that irrepressabl
and silent criticism of the acts q: others, tina
| noiseless shaping and modelling of Opini ons Il
every human mind, that vast sea of emo
tional life. which even word or glance ma
ruflie or compose, and that strong yearnini
amid all the storms of life, for some foothol
upon which to stand secure, surely natur
like this ought not to he despiscd, however dc
graded il may have become.
How numerous must be the feelings an
wants of so complex being, and how int
their graves must go unsatisfed millions, hay
ing passed through life in drcarincss an
tears, hoping until they could hope no more
and dying with their unanswered prayers up
on their lips.
| said that Charity, as IN active principle, |
more clearly defined under the modern civil
/ tk,a 4 hf. mt nj fn
human charity! Somewhere tonight, it'll
| children, deserted and fricndless, are cryin
on the street, and strong men and brave wo
men are driven by poverty and disease, wit
| lash and letters, i'm herds like cattle from on
inclosure of misery to another.
Not long since an i'll clad and eccentric oh
| woman was fOrcibly and violently eXpellc,
| from fashionable church in the city of New
| York, resulting Ia her in serious II not pcrma
nent injuries.
| How strange that n religion whose frs
| priesthood came from the humblest walks q
life, Il belief so rational and loving that
| commended itself first tn the barc-fOote
peasants Of Gallicc; how strange | say tina
out of faith so humble and catholic n 3 this
should ever have been created in New York
| or elsewhere, an aristOcracy of saints, fruI
whose presence the poor, the fricndlcss, am
the forlorn should ever he deliberately an
forever excluded. Oh, white and spotles
souls! At the terminus of life's great pos
road will the once poor and despiscd Jesus
now clothed with light and glory, bid you tn
first glad welcome because you come In whit,
envelopes instead of black? Are those only